Friday, October 28, 2016

A Tale of Two Very Different Early-Vote Efforts

 

First Read is a morning briefing from Meet the Press and the NBC Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why they matter.  

According to our latest figures, 13.7 million Americans have already voted in the 2016 general election (by absentee ballot or by in-person voting), including 7.5 million in 12 battleground states. But there is no comparison when it comes to which campaign and party is truly emphasizing early voting. As NBC's Alex Jaffe observed while covering Trump's event in Springfield, OH yesterday, "I didn't see a single RNC or OHGOP volunteer signing folks up to volunteer or offering early vote info on my way in or out of Trump's … rally." Contrast that with the observations from NBC's reporters covering the Clinton campaign and its surrogates. 

NBC's Monica Alba: "Dozens of volunteers at HRC events. And this week, most of her events were strategically positioned within walking distance of early voting sites. [On Thursday], Michelle Obama urged everyone to go vote the moment they left the NC rally." 

NBC's Danny Freeman: "It's almost unimaginable having a Bill [Clinton] event, especially on these bus tours, without early voting efforts. [Wednesday night] in Fayetteville the biggest signage was a huge 'Vote early' sign behind Clinton with student volunteers pestering crowd watchers… Now that doesn't mean they're always successful, but the efforts are 100% there." 

Now NBC's Ali Vitali, who has been covering the Trump campaign from the beginning, has noticed people in neon shirts registering attendees at Trump's North Carolina and Florida rallies. She adds, "But most states are lacking/not visible." Given that kind of disparity, if the race is close on Nov. 8, one side will have an advantage over the other. 

Click here for the full article. 

Source: NBC News

No comments: